Hot off the press

December 17, 2012

MARSHALL - Mike Henle is not afraid to invest in the future, believes in the economy and is not afraid to take a risk.

And he took that risk by recently acquiring a new state-of-the-art Sakurai press for Henle Printing.

The new piece of equipment is actually called a perfecting press, Henle said, "which means it prints both sides at one time in one pass," Henle said. "It's a fully-automated press. It's more of a push-button press than turning knobs and levers."

Article Photos

Photo by Cindy Votruba

George Ericson, left, a Henle employee, and Tom Oestreich, a consultant with Tom Ostreich Press Service and Consulting, look over the new press that was delivered Dec. 7.

What the new press does, Henle said, is opens a whole new opportunity for longer-run, full-color work.

When Henle's built its new location eight years ago, it was a dream to have a 26-inch perfection press someday, Henle said.

"I've been looking for one for the last three years," Henle said. "Economically, it wasn't available."

But with the change in the economy, Henle found a press in Chicago he was interested in.

"I found out about it on a Monday, we flew to Chicago on Thursday and bought it," Henle said. That was just a couple of weeks ago, he said. The press arrived by semi last Friday.

Some particulars of the press, Henle said, are that it's 30,000 pounds and came in one piece, and it's 18 feet and one inch long.

"We literally had to take out a wall, disassemble our geothermal just to get it in the building," Henle said.

The press had to be moved by crane. Henle said originally he was going to use one from Wabasso, but because of last weekend's snowstorm, it wasn't able to come. So James Carr brought over one of his business' cranes.

"It's nice that he brought the crane over and was responsive to what we needed," Henle said. "It's nice to be able to use local businesses."

Last Monday, the press was moved inside the print shop. Henle said they had created an 18-foot template and walked it around the shop to see if the new press would fit. There was one inch on each side of the wall when it was moved in, he added.

Henle said the new press is the "big brother" to a smaller two-color press Henle has. The two presses are next to each other.

The new press will benefit Henles and help it keep pace with changing technology, Henle said.

"It opens up a longer-run marker for us, makes us more competitive," Henle said. "With the change in technology, it makes us more efficient."